Sender address (Sender ID)

When an SMS message is received on a mobile phone, the mobile phone displays the message text and the telephone number of the phone that sent the message. This telephone number is called the sender address or sender ID. In some setups the SMS technology makes it possible for the sender of the message to freely specify the sender address. When freely specified, the sender address can be a phone number or an alphanumeric string. In this guide we give you information about when it is possible and how it is possible to specify the sender address for outgoing messages.

Sender ID restrictions

When can I specify a sender address?

The sender address for an SMS message can only be manipulated if you use an IP SMS connection, such as CIMD2, SMPP or UCP to send your SMS messages. Some HTTP SMS service provider connections also make this possible. If you attach a GSM phone or GSM modem to your computer, it is not possible to modify the sender address for outgoing messages. This is not a limitation of the Ozeki SMS software. It is a limitation of the GSM technology. There is no way to specify the sender address for messages that are sent from a mobile phone or modem, because these messages are MO (Mobile Originated) SMS messages. For MO messages the sender address is assigned to the message by the SMSC not the mobile phone.

The format of the sender address

If you are using IP SMS connection, you can specify the sender address. The sender address can be a local phone number, a short code, an international phone number or an alphanumeric string. If an alphanumeric string is used, the maximum length for the sender address is 11 characters, and the characters must be member of the GSM 7 bit alphabet. If international phone number is used the phone number should start with a plus sign and country code. e.g.: +36201234567.

Specifying the sender address

In Ozeki NG SMS gateway you can specify the sender address on the configuration form of the service provider connection. For example if you use SMPP, you can specify the sender telephone number in the "Telephone number" field (Figure 1). You can put a telephone number into this field, or a text, such as "ozeki".

Please note that some SMS service providers will not let you specify a sender address freely. They will give you a number or word you should use for all your messages.

If you look on the form you will see a checkbox next to the "Telephone number" field that is called "overridable". If this checkbox is NOT checked, all you your messages will be sent with the sender address specified in the "Telephone number" field. If the checkbox is not checked it means, that the user who sent the message cannot override the telephone number specified in the configuration form.

Overriding the default sender address

If you configure many users and applications on your Ozeki NG SMS gateway software, you might want to assign a different sender address for all of them. For example if a message is sent from a database, you might want to have sender address "dbuser" and if it is sent by the admin user, you might want to use sender address "+36201234657".

To reach this goal, please check the "overridable" checkbox in the service provider connection's configuration form. This will allow you to specify a sender address elsewhere. The next step is to open the configuration form of the user, for example open the configuration form of "admin", and open the "Advanced" tab. In the advanced tab you can put the sender address you assign to the user into the "Sender address:" field (Figure 2.).

You can specify the sender address the same way for all applications. For example the configuration form of the database application also contains an "Advanced" tab with a "Sender address:" field (Figure 3).

You might have noticed that there is an "overridable" checkbox next to the "Sender address:" field. If this checkbox is checked you can specify the sender address on a per message basis. For example if you use a database, you can specify a different sender address in the ozekimessageout table for every message you send out.